Mega Man 9Review

Share.

Capcom's Blue Bomber is back, and in all his 8-bit glory.

By Mark Bozon

If our industry truly goes in cycles, then it's about time we start cashing in our 120-gig hard drives and fancy-pants "analog sticks" for some good old-fashioned 8-bit gaming, as Capcom's Mega Man series is back and swinging for the fences in all of its low-frame, low-power glory.

Rather than taking the route of something like Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Capcom's Blue Bomber is making his return in the same way he kicked things off back on NES: 2D, and hard as hell. The development team went all out in making Mega Man 9 look, act, and truly feel like a classic game, adding in extras like downloadable content, a ranking system for time trials, and achievement-like challenges into the mix. Mega Man 9 will send you on a trip down memory lane, but it's also one of the best of the traditional set, rivaling Mega Man 2 in many respects.

On the presentation side of things, you're going to get exactly what you expected with Mega Man 9. There's a classically done intro, complete with ridiculous pixel art to tell the story, text that wraps incorrectly from screen to screen, and an interface that's mainly made up of two colors and really simple lists of options and modes. Should you have the classic options turned on (default from the beginning), things like sprite pop-in will still show up, but more than that it's the return to classic tech limitations that makes Mega Man feel truly "retro" in both look and feel. Enemy animations are a few frames at best, jump and fall physics are emulated perfectly from older titles, and spawns will reset when off stage. It's classic Mega Man, pure and simple.

And while a trip down memory lane is a nice little nod to the fans, what hardcore gamers really wanted with Mega Man 9 was a true return of that tough-as-nails traditional play we got from games like Mega Man 2. It's here, and it's a blast to play. The levels are diverse and innovative even when looking at everything the Blue Bomber has done in his first eight titles, the master robots are well crafted and balanced well, and the learning curve is again very high. It could take players hours to beat the game on the first run, but master the enemy spawns, and you'll be speed running it in 45 minutes or less consistently. Some of the weaponry in the game can be a bit repetitive, since you've got Jewel Man's attack that is nearly identical to Mega Man 2's Wood Man, and the trident shot and magma bazooka are just classic forward-firing and three-shot spread designs, but they all work well together, too. We used Concrete Man and Splash Woman's powers constantly to blast through generic enemies with ease, but if you're looking to speed run the game, or collect everything in each stage, it'll take a mastery of all the different weapons and uses.

Pro tip: If you get the boss order online, you're not really hardcore.

The stages themselves are well made, and again, very hard. Concrete Man has trick fall-through tiles, Magma Man has complex over/under enemy paths, while other stages such as Hornet Man, Tornado Man, and Galaxy Man show off some new in-level goodies to play around with, unlike other previous Mega Man games. Your first experience with Mega Man 9 might be purely nostalgic, but when you start to dive into it as its own standalone game (and not just a work of fan service), it becomes apparent just how great it is all around.

Of course, just like the classic games, most of your replay with Mega Man 9 is going to come from how much fun you have mastering levels, replaying areas, or improving on your speed through the game. With a 45-minute front-to-back time, it isn't the longest download title out there, but Mega Man 9 does throw in some extras to check out. Downloadable content is on the way and it's sure to extend replay value while simultaneously pleasing the hardcore crowd -- more on that soon. The challenges are pretty insane as well, so even if you don't have the Xbox 360 version, you've still got 50 in-game achievements to show off to friends.